Enormous religious site in French countryside may have been devoted to worshipping many gods.

Long dismissed as accidental additions to Viking graves, prehistoric “thunderstones”—fist-size stone tools resembling the Norse god Thor’s hammerhead—were actually purposely placed as good-luck talismans, archaeologists say.

Britain will not follow France in introducing a ban on the burkha, a minister has said.

Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, who strongly criticized the attempts to regulate yoga in the recent past by various states in USA, has applauded CDC for reportedly rejecting the idea of yoga tax.

Belgian police have raided the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church and the home of the recently retired Cardinal of Belgium as part of an investigation into the sexual abuse of children by clergy.

The Council of Europe human rights watchdog said on Wednesday it opposed an all-out ban on full face veils, under consideration by some European states, but also urged Muslims to reject customs that deny women equal rights.

France, Belgium and Spain are considering a ban on full face veils in public and may outlaw them later this year. The Council’s resolution has no legal weight against national laws.

A new doctoral thesis from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, shows that, in contrast to traditional scholarly claims, Dionysian cultic activities may very well have occurred in archaic Rome in the decades around 500 BC.

A six-storey statue of Jesus Christ in a midwestern US city was struck by lightning and burned to the ground, leaving only a blackened steel skeleton and pieces of foam that were scooped up by curious onlookers yesterday.

Followers of the ethnic Hellenic faith have sent a request for their Indo-European polytheistic cousins to join them in spirit and friendship on the Summer Solstice.

The cult of the Mithras was doubtless regarded at first as just another Oriental import, a product of Mediterranean multi-culturalism. But it grew into the most formidable occult secret society in the ancient world, claiming emperors and legionaries alike in its membership. At the peak of its power and influence — when it held hostage the very machinery of empire — it threatened to fling the Roman world back to its pagan roots and to eradicate the young Christian faith.

This short film explores Odinism in the modern world, as practiced by members of the OR.

‘Odinism – An Eternal Faith’ has been produced in house by members of the OR, including the soundtrack.

In his classic on the place of planet earth in the universe, Pale Blue Dot, Carl Sagan asked how is it that hardly any major religion has looked at science and said “This is better than we thought. The Universe is much bigger than our prophets said, grander, more subtle, more elegant. Instead they say, ‘No. no. no! My god is a little god, and I want him to stay that way.”

A new study of rune stones from Viking times shows that many of the carvings are meaningless.

As trained fighters they are capable of crushing an enemy with terrifying military might.
But when dozens of members of Britain’s Armed Forces take off their uniforms, they like nothing more than casting spells and taking part in midnight rituals.

A coalition of religious and conservative leaders is trying to stop a proposed Comedy Central cable TV cartoon that puts Jesus Christ in a modern-day context before it has even started.

The future Pope Benedict XVI refused to defrock an American priest who confessed to molesting numerous children and even served prison time for it, simply because the cleric wouldn’t agree to the discipline. The case provides the latest evidence of how changes in church law under Pope John Paul II frustrated and hamstrung U.S. bishops struggling with an abuse crisis that would eventually explode.

The Obama administration in a brief to the Supreme Court has backed the Vatican’s claim of immunity from lawsuits arising from cases of sexual abuse by priests in the United States.

The Supreme Court is considering an appeal by the Vatican of an appellate court ruling that lifted its immunity in the case of an alleged pedophile priest from Oregon.

Police officers have been given the right to take days off to dance naked on the solstices, celebrate fertility rituals and burn Yule logs if they profess pagan beliefs.

The Pagan Police Association claimed yesterday that it had been recognised by the Home Office as a “diversity staff support association” — a status also enjoyed by groups representing female, black, gay, Muslim and disabled officers.

A Roman Catholic schoolgirl has been labelled a truant after she refused to wear a headscarf during a compulsory trip to a mosque.

While church pedophiles may still enjoy a safe haven in Poland and other countries where the clergy are above challenge, things are breaking wide open elsewhere. Today we are awash in a sludge of revelations spanning whole countries and continents, going back decades—or as some historians say—going back centuries. Only in the last few weeks has the church shown signs of cooperating with civil authorities. Here is the story.